


Intrinsically

by JadeJem



Series: Miraculous Ladybug Drabbles [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU, Adrien Agreste Is a Little Shit, Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, Chat Noir/Ladybug Fluff, Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, Confident Marinette Dupain-Cheng, F/M, Hot Mess Adrien Agreste, Love, Miraculous Ladybug - Freeform, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, Oblivious Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Reverse Crush (Miraculous Ladybug), Unrequited Love, life swap au, miraculous - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-06 14:54:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17347262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeJem/pseuds/JadeJem
Summary: Adrien is in love with Marinette who is Ladybug who is in love with Chat Noir who is Adrien.What?Reverse Crush and Life Swap AU madness.





	1. Life Swap & Reverse Crush AU - Explained

***PLEASE READ FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING***

This AU is a Life Swap AU solely between Adrien and Marinette.

Adrien's parents, Gabriel and Emilie, run a cafe, where Adrien works as a barista after school and on weekends. They get a lot of business because of their hospitality, service, and Adrien's kindness (and good looks). Nino, Adrien's best friend, takes shifts there as well.

Tom died when Marinette was five, so she has grown only to know her mother, Sabine, who works in the fashion industry as a designer. Tom's death made Sabine drown herself in her work, though she is kind enough to Marinette when they see each other. With Sabine's encouragement, Marinette allowed herself to be pulled into modeling, and despite her short height, is rather popular for her unique French and Asian features.

Marinette loves her mother dearly, but she spends most of her time worried for her mother's mental health. She does anything she can to please her and make her smile a little less vacant. She doesn't tell Sabine about her desire to become a designer herself.

**This is also a Reverse Crush AU, but not a Kwami Swap AU.**

It didn't take long for Adrien to fall head over heels in love with Marinette Dupain-Cheng. He'd seen her on magazine covers and even on TV doing talkshows, but he'd never met her before her first appearance at his school during their 10th year. He moonlights the city as Chat Noir, who takes his job pretty seriously but enjoys the company of his partner, Ladybug.

Marinette hadn't expected the rush of freedom she'd first feel upon swinging across the city, but she found it hard to have regrets. She quickly fell in love with the view of Paris from a bird's-eye view along with the dashing but overwhelmingly kind smile of her partner, Chat Noir. She found it a bit hard to wrap her mouth around what she was trying to say at times, but his unrelenting patience and gentle grin was a jolt to her heart, to say the least.

**That about covers it! If you have questions, feel free to comment them down below! I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of drabbles based off of this AU.**


	2. And She Was a Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette's first (attempted) day at school.
> 
> And the first time she meets Adrien.

Marinette stared up at the looming building in front of her, suddenly nervous. She was 15, had never been to school before, and thought she'd had the perfect plan for how to act before she'd actually stepped out of the car.

She'd practically begged her mother to allow her to finally go to school, and Sabine, happy with Marinette's private studies, had conceded.

Her eyes snagged on a cafe on the street corner to her left, which was filled with people. She was pleasantly curious until she saw an old man with a red and white Hawaiian shirt leave the cafe and begin to cross the street.

Marinette moved on instinct when she caught wind of the red car careening down the road.

"Sir!" she screamed, sprinting as fast as her legs would carry her.

He slowly looked up just as Marinette threw herself at him, managing to twist herself upside down so he wouldn't hit the ground.

She skidded once, and her ankle caught on a rock on the sidewalk. They landed roughly, and the air was knocked out of Marinette as her head snapped back.

The old man was up in an instant, fluttering around her worriedly. Marinette blinked and sat up, everything around her spinning with adrenaline. Her ankle and palms were stinging, and she belatedly realized that she was bleeding. Marinette's backpack was no longer on her back, and she wondered where it had gone.

"Miss? Miss, are you okay?"

She looked up to find the old Chinese man strung at down at her worriedly, eyes shining with genuine concern. "Thank you so much, Miss. I should have watched where I was going—"

"Out of the way!" Nathalie shoved through the crowd that had gathered, her clipboard firmly in hand.

Nathalie offered Marinette a hand, and Marinette took it, feeling slightly dizzy. "Are you alright, Miss Dupain-Cheng?"

The mutters of the throng of onlookers reached Marinette's ears. Marinette flinched. "Marinette, please, Nathalie," she said quietly, turning and trying to smile up at her mother's new assistant. Nathalie had only started working for them a month ago, but she didn't want Nathalie to feel inclined to speak to her so formally. "Just a few scratches."

"I need a rag or towel, somebody," Nathalie barked at the crowd, tugging Marinette's hands away from her sides.

Marinette looked down at the old man and smiled. "It's okay, sir. I'm glad I got to you in time. Please don't worry about me."

He smiled up at her, and there was something knowing in his gaze. "Your kindness is glorifying, Miss."

A head of golden hair entered Marinette's vision as a boy with startling green eyes handed Nathalie a damp rag. He was out of breath.

Nathalie began to dab at the scrapes on Marinette's palms when the boy made eye contact with Marinette. She blinked before smiling. "Thank you."

His emerald eyes widened, and his cheeks darkened. "Any time."

Marinette wanted to try and make conversation, but wasn't sure how. She bit her lip and searched her internal registry for something to say.

"You're amazing," he blurted. Her gaze snapped back to his, and she blushed. The tips of his ears were red.

"Ah, no," she murmured, looking away from him. "I just did what I had to."

"You're Marinette Dupain-Cheng, right?"

Nathalie sent Marinette a 'look' as she got to her knees and began to clean up Marinette's startlingly bloody ankle.

"Er," Marinette stammered, scratching the back of her neck with a smile. "That's me."

Before she could ask his name, Nathalie was on her feet and pulling Marinette along. "We will return home immediately to clean you up and redress you. You can come back to school during lunch."

"Wait!"

Nathalie stopped, and Marinette ran into her before craning her head back to meet the boy's bright gaze.

He held up her bag. "You're going to school here?" His eyes ping-ponged between the high school campus across the street and Marinette.

Nathalie's grip on Marinette's arm slackened, and Marinette crossed the crosswalk to retrieve her backpack. She looked up at him as she took it. "Well, I was, but now I have to come back later." She pointedly stared down at her torn jeans.

"Right," he said before extending a hand. "I'm Adrien."

Marinette positively  _beamed_. "It's great to meet you. Hopefully I'll see you around?"

"Miss Dupain-Cheng!"

"Yeah," Adrien confirmed, looking sheepish. "Uh, your... lady is calling for you."

"Right, yeah," Marinette laughed. "See you!" And with that, she turned, looked both ways, and hurried across the street, where Nathalie was waiting for her.

"That boy likes you," Nathalie stated matter-of-factly when they were safely in the car and driving back to the Cheng mansion.

Marinette waved her off. "No, he's just a friend." She suddenly brightened. "A friend," she quietly repeated to herself, overwhelmingly happy at the prospect. "I already made a friend!"

Nathalie said nothing, but Marinette swore she saw her smiling through the rearview mirror.


	3. Weight of the World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette's first day of school and what happens after. This is a continuation of the previous part, but following drabbles may be random along the timeline of this AU.

Marinette's backpack felt heavy on her shoulders, and she smoothed out the pink skirt she'd chosen to wear after having to say goodbye to her favorite pair of pink jeans, suddenly wary of how nicely dressed she was compared to some of the other students rushing into the mouth of the school. Lunchtime was practically over, she'd bitterly reminded Nathalie on the way back to school.

"Does my hair look okay?" she blurted, touching the twin-tails resting behind her ears self-consciously as Nathalie came to stand beside her.

"Your mother prefers your hair in a bun," is all Nathalie responded with.

"Right," Marinette stated awkwardly, her mouth suddenly dry. "Well, I'm going in now."

Nathalie's face gave away nothing of what she was feeling, and Marinette hurriedly turned away from her and speed-walked her way up the stairs, conscious of the way her expensive, custom-made, pink designer street shoes (basically just Converse but high-topped and higher quality) padded against the stone steps.

The stares Marinette received when she stepped into the entryway were not reassuring at all.

(Maybe she would pull her hair up into a bun after all.)

Conversations died everywhere in the vicinity, and complete silence filled the space for a few long moments before whispers broke out and spread like the plague.

Did she look funny? She'd only put on mascara and lip gloss. Sure, she was a model and was in magazines and on TV, but she wasn't an  _actual_  celebrity. At least, she didn't  _think_ she was.

What constituted a celebrity, anyway?

Marinette cringed when the clicking of photos being taken came at her from every side.

"Marinette!"  _Oh no_. "You're here!"

Chloé Bourgeois, Marinette's life-long friend, barreled into her from the side, nearly sending both of the girls tumbling to the ground.

Marinette hoped her smile didn't show how embarrassed she was. "Chloé! Hi. So nice to see you!" They kissed each other's cheeks.

Chloé had always been... a work-in-progress. Marinette loved her, don't get her wrong, but Chloé was... overwhelming, at times.

Chloé wound her arm through Marinette's and began to drag her through the crowd of students. "You won't believe our luck, Marihoney! You're in all of my classes for the entire year! You'll have to thank Daddy." She winked, and Marinette laughed.

"Mayor's daughter strikes again," Marinette mused, smiling at passersby as calmly as she could.

The odd looks she received had her frowning in confusion.

"We're going shopping after school, right? I can have Daddy send a limo if you don't like the car," Chloé said, seemingly unfazed by the nature of the attention they were receiving.

"I have a shoot an hour after school. Why are people looking at us all weird?" Marinette asked, suddenly feeling short beside Chloé.

"Because you're famous, obviously," Chloé scoffed, amused.

Before Marinette could piggyback onto that line of conversation, Chloé stopped them at a door on the second story and yanked it open before strutting in, pulling Marinette along behind her.

Any and all discussion trailed off into silence, and Marinette stared in betrayal when Chloé hurried to a seat in the first row, leaving Marinette standing alone in front of the room.

"Marinette Cheng?" the teacher asked kindly, her turquoise eyes glimmering like jewels.

"Dupain-Cheng," Marinette corrected, cringing at the urgent tone her voice took on.  _'She doesn't know any better,'_ she reminds herself, worried that she'd sounded rude.

"Ah, my apologies. I'll have the office fix that."

Marinette smiled gratefully. "Thank you."

The teacher walked around her desk and extended a hand. "I'm Miss Bustier. Why don't you tell us a little about you, Marinette?"

Marinette shook Miss Bustier's hand and suddenly felt shy as she turned to face the class. "Hi! I'm Marinette, obviously—"

That earned her a few snickers, and Marinette blushed but soldiered on.

"—and I like to play soccer and lacrosse?" She looked at Miss Bustier for approval.

Miss Bustier beamed. "Great! You can take the seat in the second row beside Alya."

Marinette's gaze found Alya, and she smiled. Alya smiled back, but it seemed strained.

"Miss Bustier, I think there's been a mistake."

Marinette looked at Chloé, who had gotten to her feet, and subtly shook her head, mouthing,  _'No.'_

Chloé ignored her. "Marinette is supposed to sit in the front row, but Barista Boy won't move."

"'Barista Boy'? Really, Chloé? Couldn't have come up with something more original?"

Marinette's attention was drawn to the boy sitting in the front row. His hair was gold, and his eyes were a bright emerald.

"Adrien," she recalled aloud. The entire class turned to look at her. "Er, Adrien! I mean, it's totally fine if he sits there. I don't really care that much, anyway." She sent Adrien a quick wink before hurrying to her seat in the second row.

Chloé reluctantly sat down.

"Hi," Marinette greeted when she took her seat, offering Alya a hand.

Alya eyed her hand suspiciously before taking it. "What's the deal with you and Chloé?"

Marinette cocked her head, confused. "Chloé? Oh, she's a childhood friend. I've known her my whole life. Why?"

Alya pursed her lips, seeming to choose her words carefully before responding. "She's not exactly the nicest person."

Marinette shrugged. "She has her flaws, but she's always been there for me."

"I get that, but she's kind of the class bully."

Marinette's mouth formed an 'o'. "I—I didn't know," she said dumbly, blinking at Alya before looking at Chloé. "I'm sorry."

Alya's expression softened, and a real grin pulled at her lips. "You're all good, girl. I'll show you the reins of school life. You've been homeschooled your whole life, right? Was it hard to socialize?"

"Yeah," Marinette admitted, flushing. "Not many opportunities to make friends when you can't leave the house often. I had to  _beg_  my mother to let me come to school."

"No worries. I'll be your right-hand woman."

Marinette beamed, excitement swelling in her chest. "Thanks."

***    *    ***

"Fancy seeing you here."

Marinette jumped and looked up from the her tablet. She'd chosen to sit at an available lab table in the third row so she hopefully wouldn't be called on often; Chemistry wasn't exactly her best subject.

Standing before her was Adrien, who was smiling hesitantly.

"Is this seat taken?"

Marinette bit down on the large smile that threatened to stretch her lips and merely shook her head, though by the way his grin widened, she feared she may have let the smile slip after all.

He settled down in the seat to her left, and again, Marinette found herself faced with the task of wracking her brain for something to say. She felt as if she were at a severe disadvantage next to all of the other kids who had known each other all their lives.

"When I'm near you I undergo anaerobic respiration because you take my breath away."

All internal activity in Marinette jolted to a sharp stop. She blinked, thinking she  _must_  have imagined that. There was  _no way_ —

Marinette turned on Adrien to see him shrinking in on himself, scarlet from his roots to the tips of his ears.

She stared, incredulous. "Was—was that a Chemistry pick-up line?"

"Th—that depends," he stammered, peeking out at her from behind his hands. "Would you consider yourself picked up?"

Marinette stared for a moment more before bursting out into uncontrolled peals of laughter. When she finally sobered, her eyes were swimming with tears. Unsure of how else to respond, she winked and responded with an amused, "Nice try, Barista Boy."

The smile that had bloomed on Adrien's face fell flat as he groaned. "Not you, too."

"That's what you get for being cheesy," she teased quietly, not wanting anyone to eavesdrop; her mother had a lot of patience, but when it came to upholding the Cheng image, she was brutal.

"If it'll get you to laugh like that, I'll ditch oxygen and breathe Chemistry puns," he said, parking his chin on his palm with a small smile as he gazed at her.

At this, Marinette raised an eyebrow, surprised but amused. "Flirt much?"

Adrien didn't get the chance to respond before an outraged shriek had them both cringing.

"Maridear, you can't sit next to—to  _him_!" Chloé lamented from the doorway, attracting the attention of everyone else in the room as she pointed an accusing finger straight at Adrien. "He'll get that gross coffee smell all over your gorgeous clothes!"

Marinette unconsciously looked down at her clothes with a frown. "I'm sure that's not true, Chlo." She leaned in toward Adrien and took a deep breath in through her nose before pulling away, unaware of the way Adrien's face flushed crimson. "He smells nice to me. Like cloves and cinnamon."

Chloé looked  _appalled._  " _You can't sit with him!_ " she howled, her icy glare boring into Adrien.

Marinette's hands fluttered from side to side as her attention ping-ponged between the two, unsure of how to calm them. Adrien was returning Chloé's glare with just as much fire, his eyes blazing a darker shade than they had been moments prior.

Finally, Marinette set a hand on Adrien's arm, which seemed to jolt him out of his staring contest. He blinked down at her hand before meeting her gaze. She smiled at him, silently pleading for him to deal with Chloé in a more civil way.

(While she knew that Chloé was 100% the instigator, she'd learned over time that it was better to take the high road before you lost a shoe to a toilet.

Or an arm to a wood chipper.)

Adrien let out a deep sigh before his attention was back on Chloé. "Whatever, Chloé. I'm not going to argue with you, and I'm not going to move."

Chloé turned her gaze on Marinette, indignant.

Marinette looked between Adrien and Chloé. "I—uh, Chlo, you can sit at the lab table right there," Marinette tried enthusiastically, pointing to the table on the other side of the short aisle. "We'll still be close enough to touch each other! That way, we all win." She turned up the wattage on her smile, and Chloé eyed her warily before slumping and grumbling to herself, taking the table adjacent to theirs.

Marinette relaxed, happy that she was able to deter the conflict that was in the making.

A thought occurred to her, and Marinette turned to find Adrien already looking at her distractedly. Marinette, unsure of how to interpret his glazed expression, brushed it aside. "You and Chloé don't seem to get along very well. What happened between you two?"

Adrien blinked as if he'd been pulled from a trance. "Huh? Oh." His expression darkened, and he looked away from her. "She's always hated me. We've been in the same class since we were children, and she's never once been nice. I used to just ignore her, but I was sick of having to put up with her stupid comments and 'pranks,' so now I call her out."

Marinette stared. Had Chloé always been like that? It didn't sound like Chloé, but if what Alya said about Chloé being a bully was true, then maybe Marinette didn't really know her childhood friend at all.

Chloé never specifically went after people unless they did something to her, or she was jealous. Did he do something to her when they were younger that she might have held onto? What did Adrien have that she would be jealous of?

Marinette hummed and turned toward the front of the room when the teacher trudged in and began the class. Marinette found it was hard to pay attention to something that so thoroughly bored her (though she found it was better than learning it at home). She'd quickly learned that a classroom environment held many more distractions than the echoing silence of her bedroom or dining room.

Adrien had educated her on the art of passing notes—something she'd only seen in movies but was delighted to participate in. Almost every note he passed held some sort of play on words based around Chemistry or science in general, and she scoffed at all of them, claiming he was "personally offending her."

His answering grin had her throwing a pencil at him.

Marinette was almost sad when the final bell rang. She packed her pink backpack distractedly, lost in her thoughts. Adrien had asked if she'd wanted to have a "VIP tour of the best cafe/patisserie in France," and she was devastated by the way his entire expression seemed to dim when she told him she had a photoshoot after school. He'd still smiled and bid her goodbye regardless before rushing out the door (he mentioned having to work a shift as soon as school ended).

Marinette tripped over the leg of her stool and knocked her bag off of the lab table. The flap fell open when it hit the floor, and almost all of the contents spilled out. Marinette cursed internally before hurriedly kneeling down and checking to see if her tablet was okay. When she saw no cracks on the screen, she carefully slipped it (along with her binders and folders) back into her bag.

Her pencil case had sent its utensils scattering along the aisle and, since the classroom was empty (the teacher had excused herself to the restroom), Marinette felt no shame in crawling around on her hands and knees to retrieve her lost objects.

She was reaching for a red sharpie when her hand froze mid-air, her gaze moving past the sharpie and latching onto the hexagonal box laying on the floor, abandoned. She picked it up, her sharpie forgotten, and sat back on her shins, turning the box every which way.

It was wooden and painted over in black. Intricate red markings wound their way into patterns that reminded Marinette of scriptures from Chinese legends her father (who had learned the stories from her mother) had told her when she was young. She didn't quite remember what the stories actually were, but the memory of her father's kind face was burned into the backs of her eyelids.

Marinette got to her feet, the box in hand, and looked around the room as if someone would materialize in front of her and claim it to be theirs.

After a moment more, Marinette decided she'd take it home and ask around the following day.

The car was waiting for her outside, and Nathalie was there to greet her and remind her that she had soccer tryouts the following day after school. Joining school a couple of months after it had started was odd, but Marinette supposed that this way, she wouldn't have to wait for the new season. 

By the time she was dumping her bag onto her bed, she was already lost in thoughts about how school homework assignments worked (similar to the ones she got from homeschooling, but she could ask others for help if she needed it). Alya had been kind enough to add her to different group chats in relation to school and study sessions with people taking the same classes as her. 

Marinette dipped her hand into her bag, and her hand found the odd box from earlier. She removed it and stared at it some more; it felt like it was beating a steady rhythm in her hand. Odd sensations tickled her fingers and filtered through her veins like liquid magic... What  _was_  this thing?

For once, Marinette let her curiosity beat her manners. She gripped the cap of the box and gently opened it.

Light exploded from the box, and Marinette dropped it with a gasp, blinded. Something squeaked and whizzed away from the box, still glowing as if running on thousands of watts of electricity. 

Marinette blinked, eyes widening as a little thing came into focus. It was floating in front of her face, looking as if she were about to placate Marinette. 

"Don't scream."

"Whoa!" Marinette gasped, all awe and amazement. "What are you?"

The creature blinked its big sapphire eyes and cocked its head. "You're... not going to scream?"

"No! Why would I?" Marinette queried, watching the little red (was it a faerie?) thing grin.

"I don't know! You seemed like the type to scream. I'm surprised. Err—I should get to the point before you change your mind and scream. I'm Tikki, and I'm a kwami. You have been Chosen, Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Marinette stared. "Is—is this a prank? Am I being filmed?" She glanced around the room, frowning and searching for cameras. 

"No, silly!" the thing—Tikki, Marinette reminded herself—chirped, eyes bright with amusement. "This is one-hundred percent real! Let me explain."

"Wait," Marinette said after a solid five minutes of conversation with the magical being (a  _God_!). "I'm a... I'm a what?"

"A superhero!"

That time, Marinette screamed. 

"I knew it," she heard Tikki mutter. "You  _are_ a screamer!"

"Would  _you_  consider a magical little ladybug god popping out of a box filled with heavenly light to tell you you're a superhero _normal_?"

"It's not heavenly light," Tikki corrected unhelpfully.

Marinette was about to scream again when a thought occurred to her. "Wait, superhero? As in, sneaking-out-to-save-the-day superhero? Secret identity-holding, weapon-wielding, villain ass-kicking—"

" _Yes_ ," Tikki cut her off, her following laughter sounding like tinkling bells. 

Marinette sucked in a sharp breath and burst into a fit of coughs. Tikki patted her shoulder consolingly as Marinette gasped for air. 

"Wh—," she breathed. "When do I start?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man I love this a looooot can't wait to do more on Adrien and dive into their interactions as heroes! Ahhhhh! 
> 
> If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them! This is my new obsession, so I don't mind. *~*


End file.
